Since the days of Denis Papin and James Watt, two major problems have been encountered in the conversion of thermal energy to mechanical work. Firstly, there have been problems in producing steam capable of doing maximum work in accordance with the quantity of energy imparted to the steam. Secondly, there have been problems in getting rid of the residual steam after the work has been done and reducing energy losses to a minimum level.
Solutions have been proposed for the first problem by the introduction of power plants in the form of the monstrous steam generators, steam engines and steam turbines as we know them today. However, there has been very little success in dealing with the second problem. Economical production of steam for driving steam engines, as well as other uses, is plagued with the fact that only about 30% of the latent heat of vaporization is retrieved back into the working fluid involved in the conversion of thermal energy into mechanical work. Even this is done at the expense of the capacity of the working fluid.
The following is a list of some U.S. patents generally relating to the present invention: 4,195,485: Binkerhoff 4,292,808: Lohmiller 4,333,313: Cardone et al. 4,519,441: Spevack 4,540,043: Mivra